Chamber Theatre in full flower with lighthearted 'Jeeves in Bloom'

Given the miserable spring we've been having, I probably don't need to explain the appeal of a play titled "Jeeves in Bloom," the second of Margaret Raether's three stage adaptations of the P.G. Wodehouse stories and novels featuring Bertie Wooster's ever-capable valet.

Under Tami Workentin's direction, Milwaukee Chamber Theatre produced the first of these light comedies, with Matt Daniels as Jeeves, in 2010. In "Bloom," Workentin again directs and Daniels returns as Jeeves. The remaining characters and actors are all new, as is the setting.

We once more begin in Bertie's London flat - improvised near the lip of the stage, with Jeeves-like efficiency, courtesy of a rolled-on chair and tea trolley. But most of the action unfolds behind the subsequently opened curtain, where scenic designer Steve Barnes has recreated the idyllic green world of Worcestershire's Brinkley Court, in the summer of 1931.

When Bertie (Chase Stoeger) is summoned for a visit - through a series of increasingly pointed telegrams that add up to a wonderful sight gag - he is joined by Gussie Fink-Nottle (Matt Koester), an often tongue-tied dweeb whose primary pastime involves studying newts.

Gussie is smitten with the Travers' other houseguest, the wildly romantic and impossibly silly Madeline Basset (Karen Estrada), who is more in love with the idea of being in love - and with accompanying flights of poetic fancy - than with any particular person.

In Wodehouse's whimsical world, someone like Madeline is guaranteed to fall for both Gussie and Bertie - particularly after she discovers, in a nod to the balcony scene in which "Cyrano de Bergerac" sends up "Romeo and Juliet," that it is Bertie who has been wooing her on Gussie's behalf.

It takes Jeeves to set things right again, as he also does in unraveling additional subplots, involving the easily ruffled cook and Dahlia's gambling debts.

Daniels' Jeeves handles it all with imperturbable aplomb, leaving his voice - a tad closer to a sneer than it should be - to add a few curves to his straight-man demeanor.

Following his valet's example, Stoeger's Bertie generally resists the urge to over-egg the pudding, trusting the laughs to take care of themselves.

Raether has given Kearns the most interesting character, and Kearns makes the most of her opportunity, reminding us that Jeeves isn't the only one without power in this boys' world.

Kearns is a gifted comedic actor, and she is extremely funny here. But the smile on her mouth doesn't always reach her eyes - or align with her occasionally waspish voice.

At moments like these, it's as though a character from a tougher and more incisive Noël Coward farce has stumbled into this light and airy world - reminding us that summer can't last forever.

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